


The NEST Soldiers Play Among Us (and the Autobots Join In Too)

by LiagibaSiYseehc



Series: The Prime and His Soldier [6]
Category: Among Us (Video Game), Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Crack, Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, Established Relationship, False Accusations, Gen, Human/Transformer Relationships (Transformers), I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Not Really Character Death, Thriller(?), Voting to 'kill' people, halloween fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27292219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiagibaSiYseehc/pseuds/LiagibaSiYseehc
Summary: Exactly what the title says.The NEST soldiers, as a joke, decide to organize a real-life Among Us tournament.  You can well imagine what happensThis is not your typical Among Us fic.  This is not your typical Transformers fic either.  I just mashed the two concepts together and, well,thishappened
Relationships: Optimus Prime/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Prime and His Soldier [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652653
Comments: 11
Kudos: 41





	The NEST Soldiers Play Among Us (and the Autobots Join In Too)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, everybody! To celebrate this holiday, I wanted to write something scary and mysterious, but since I have zero experience in writing horror, I’ve decided to write something a little (just a _little_ , mind you) spooky but also lighthearted. My brain, for some reason, came up with _this_.
> 
> I’m pretty sure about 90% of the internet has been infected by the Among Us craze. As you can probably tell, I’m one of them.
> 
> If you’re interested, you can [check out a map of Diego Garcia that I’d drawn while I was preparing for this fic](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FhzGnxPZAoRDBqKzvhvzgHdU5aqL1efY/view?usp=sharing)  
> (pay no attention to the relative size of the boxes. I have zero geography sense)

The overhead lights flickered and went out.

Riley groaned, freeing the mini flashlight clipped to her belt and flipping the switch to 'on'. A thin line of light that barely improved her vision appeared, weak and faint against the enveloping darkness.

She was going to have to stop at Electrical to fix the lights then. That's okay, she was headed towards the Storage Room anyways, and Electrical was along the way.

A blur of red _(? Is that red? Or pink, maybe? It was too dark to tell)_ streaked past her right before she entered Electrical, startling her. A sense of foreboding settled lightly in her stomach, and she quickened her pace, wishing to get the lights up as soon as possible. The eerie darkness, coupled with the sound of her own laboured breathing, was giving her the sensation of being watched, and it was creeping her out.

With a grunt, she pushed the lever controlling the lights back to its original position (there was no way this was accidental. Someone did this _on purpose_ ). The lights responded cheerfully, blinking on instantly and widening her scope of vision. She heaved a quiet sigh of relief. She _really_ hated the dark.

Just as she was about to leave, she saw a crumpled form out of the corner of her left eye. A horrified gasp escaped her when she got near enough to recognise what it was.

There was a dead body on the ground in front of her.

She thumbed a button on her walkie talkie and raised it to her mouth.

"Guys, we have a problem,"

* * *

'Ghost-Jessie' now wore a blue glow-in-the-dark wristband that signified her death. She was scowling, no doubt pissed by the fact that she was their first casualty. Following the mutually agreed rules set from earlier, she remained silent even as more and more people troped into the Autobot Hangar, all summoned by Riley's message.

"Okay, who killed Jessie?" Major Lennox demanded, levelling them all with an 'I-see-you' stare, "Everyone state where they were when the body was found. ASAP."

"I was fixing the lights," Riley said immediately, drawing his attention, "I was just leaving Electrical when I found her. It. The body."

"Did you see anything else? Anything that may be a clue to whoever did it?" Camila asked.

"Not really, the flashlights suck, so I could barely see a thing other than vague shapes and- _wait_ , I remember seeing red," Riley replied, dragging her gaze across everyone gathered. There were ten in total, herself included.

Well, Jessie died, so technically there were only _nine_ people there.

"You are certain you saw red," Optimus pressed, his signature phrasing once again making what he said sound like both a question and a statement.

"I think so. But it was really dark, so I'm not really sure," Riley frowned, "It might be red, or maybe pink…"

She trailed off as her eyes reached Arcee. Arcee, who had _pink armour_.

"It wasn't me," the femme cut in smoothly, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "I was at Admin. Sideswipe can vouch for me."

"Yeah, I saw her. She's cool," Sideswipe interjected.

"That doesn't prove anything. There are two imposters. You could just be covering for her," Steve pointed out.

"Guys," Riley checked her datapad, "we have twenty seconds left to vote."

"Okay, let's do this. I vote Arcee," Steve said, "Who's with me?"

"It might be better to wait for more evidence first," Camila turned to Riley, her expression serious, "Are you _sure_ it was pink?"

"I think? I don't know!" Riley replied, panicked, "It was just a blur. Of… _something_. It could be pink. Or it could just be my imagination."

"Wow, that's real helpful," Lennox said dryly, "Just to be safe, do you think we should vote her out?"

"I don't- maybe?" Her hands were starting to sweat. She wasn't used to making big decisions like this. Especially ones that could literally affect the outcome of the entire game.

"Then it's decided. Everyone who agrees to eliminate Arcee, a show of hands please?" Lennox lifted his hand, staring at the rest of them expectantly.

Steve raised his hand instantly, followed by Camila and Bumblebee. Optimus put his servo up after several seconds of deliberation, a motion which Riley then hesitantly copied.

"Wheeljack? We've decided to remove Arcee," Lennox called out. A few moments later a nearby speaker crackled to life.

"Arcee eh? Good try, but she wasn't an imposter," Wheeljack's cheerful voice piped up, "There are two remaining imposters. Better luck next time!"

Steve swore. Arcee threw Riley a baleful glare before changing a section of armour on her wrist to blue- proof that she no longer qualified as 'living'.

Riley's heart sunk. The crew-to-imposter ratio just shrunk, and it was practically her fault. She _knew_ she shouldn't have trusted what she thought she saw. Who on earth tried to see _colour_ in the _dark_?

 _Okay_ , she thought silently, _Arcee's innocent, but she said she met with Sideswipe, and he was willing to clear her, so that means Sideswipe should be safe too_.

"We should pair up so we're less easy to kill," Lennox suggested, looking at Optimus, who nodded in confirmation.

"Riley, you wanna pair with me?" Steve asked eagerly, holding out an arm towards her.

Riley blinked, suddenly uncomfortable, "Uh… I think I would rather go with Optimus."

She quickly walked over to Optimus, steadfastly ignoring the feeling of Steve's stare on her back. Kneeling down, Optimus stretched out his servo to receive her but was quickly interrupted by Lennox.

"Hey, no picking up other players. We need everyone to have an equal chance of getting killed,"

Right, since being high above the ground _would_ make her significantly harder to kill.

She grinned up at Optimus, who had straightened himself back to full height, "Don't worry, I have full confidence in your ability to protect me even with me on the ground."

"I am unable to do much to ensure your safety," Optimus said slowly, helm slightly tilted, "We are not allowed to retaliate against imposter attacks."

"Oh, I know that," Riley's grin grew wider, "But _no one_ would dare attack me in front of you."

Ex-venting in amusement, Optimus made to reply but was cut off by Lennox.

"Has everyone paired up yet?"

Riley looked around the room. Jessie and Arcee were dead, so only four pairs were formed, including her and Optimus. Steve stood by Mirage, Camila was chatting casually with Bumblebee, and Sideswipe was rocking impatiently on his wheels behind Lennox.

"Alright then," Lennox brought his palms together with a loud clap, "let's win this thing, people."

* * *

Everyone had laughed when Camila had jokingly said that they should hold a real-life Among Us tournament for Halloween.

"Seriously though," she had said once they had sobered up, "we should actually do it. It would be fun!"

And so they had started scheming, coming up with rules and regulations that would make the game both human and Autobot friendly, as well as devising tasks that they would have to finish in order to win.

Roping the Autobots into this had been easy. Bumblebee had been exuberant when he heard about their plan, agreeing to join almost immediately and dragging Arcee and Mirage along with him. Getting Sideswipe to join had been a little tricker, but he said yes after hearing that both Bumblebee and Mirage had joined, promising to "show those two losers who's boss". All it took to persuade Optimus was Riley saying "please?" while staring pleadingly into his optics (Riley considered this payback for making her go vegan. Yes, she knew it was good for the animals and stuff, but _gosh_ did she miss scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast).

The rules were simple: Everyone had six tasks to finish, except for the two imposters, and they win when all the tasks had been finished. Imposters could sabotage lights, doors, and communications (the display of tasks on everyone's datapads), and kill people using a holo-knife that Wheeljack had gleefully created purely for this occasion. When a person was killed, their datapad would vibrate, alerting them to their own 'death', and they would have to lie down on the floor until someone else found them.

Whenever someone discovered a body, a group meeting must be called in the Autobot Hangar, where everyone would either vote someone out or do nothing. One emergency group meeting could be held each game, activated when a crewmate pressed a button located at the Autobot Hangar, and it was the only time a group meeting could be held without the discovery of a body. The imposters win when the number of crewmates was equal to or less than the number of imposters.

To offset the unfairness brought forward by the absence of vents and emergency sabotages, imposters were given a map of the base indicating the position of every single crew member, which they could use to plan their kills and escapes. Since the Autobots' ability to pick up life signals from miles away would render the entire game unplayable, the five Autobots were required to offline any long-range and mid-range scanners before the game started.

"Where would you like to begin?" Optimus asked, drawing her out of her thoughts.

Riley pulled out her datapad, drawing up the list Wheeljack had sent her.

_Crewmate_

_( ) Firing range: Hit targets_

_( ) Storage: Clean weapons_

_( ) Medbay: Medical check-up_

_( ) Cafeteria: Wipe tables_

_( ) Training Hangar 2: Perform calculations_

_( ) Living quarters: Set alarm_

"When we first started, I wanted to finish off the tasks furthest away from the Autobot Hangar first so that I wouldn't have to walk all the way every time there's a group meeting," she said, showing Optimus her list, "But after Jessie, I think it's better to complete as many tasks as fast as possible, so let's just finish the ones closest to us first."

"The nearest room listed would be Medbay," Optimus noted, "We shall begin there, then."

"Sure!"

* * *

The medical scan ran through her body, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. (Ratchet had insisted on adding this task when he heard that tasks could be literally anything)

"I see no concerning issues, you are free to leave," Ratchet said after a moment.

"Thanks, Ratchet!" Riley said good-naturedly, hopping on Optimus's servo so that he could lower her back to the ground.

Ratchet snorted, turning back to his work, "Be careful out there. I won't be pleased if one of you idiots got hurt because of a stupid game."

Riley choked back a laugh. "Don't worry, we won't get hurt," she waited until Ratchet nodded approvingly before adding, "The objective of the imposters is to _kill_ people, not hurt them, so we should be just fine."

The two of them fled from the Medbay before Ratchet could react, stopping at the hallway quite some distance away. Riley was doubled over with laughter, one hand braced against Optimus's right pede for balance

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just said that," Riley said breathlessly, fanning her face to cool herself down.

"It might have been unwise to antagonize Ratchet," Optimus acknowledged, crouching down and brushing the hair out of her eyes.

His digit lingered on her cheek, the gesture affectionate and gentle, and she smiled, feeling a warmth spread from her head to the tip of her toes. Reaching up to place a hand on the warm metal, she opened her mouth-

-and her walkie talkie sputtered to life, Camila's voice shrieking.

" _Oh gosh Bumblebee just died!_ "

They jerked apart, sharing a concerned glance before sprinting for the Autobot Hangar.

(Well, _Riley_ sprinted. Optimus just… walked beside her. Slowly)

When they arrived the hangar was mostly empty with the exception of Sideswipe, who was skating around aimlessly.

"Where's Major Lennox?" Riley asked, looking around for a sign of the man.

"We split up," Sideswipe replied, "I had tasks at the Firing Range, which is right next to here, but his tasks were at the Garage, which was all the way across the base. We didn't want to waste time waiting for each other to finish."

That… made sense, Riley supposed. There was no reason to suspect any of them yet.

Steve arrived completely out of breath, his short, messy black hair completely matted with sweat.

"I couldn't… find… Mirage," he wheezed out, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, "We were supposed to be… doing tasks together. Just turned around… and he was gone."

Just as she was about to question him, Mirage arrived, followed by Lennox, Camila, and Bumblebee, who had already turned a section of his armour blue.

Camila was shaking, her breaths short and uneven as she gripped one hand tightly with the other.

"I was at Storage, the one next to the Garage," she told them, her voice uneven, "I was just doing a task- cleaning the weapons. I turned around for one second, and then he was dead!"

"Did you see anyone?" Lennox asked.

"No, it was as if there was nobody there. One second Bumblebee was still standing behind me, and the next he was crashing to the ground,"

Lennox's face did something complicated, as if he was holding back a grimace.

"I was at the Garage, cleaning one of the trucks," he said slowly, brows narrowing to a frown, "I saw Bumblebee enter Storage, no one else was behind him, and a minute later he was dead."

"What are you saying, Major?" Steve looked from Lennox to Camila, "You think she did it?"

"Woah, woah, woah," Camila looked up in anger, " _I'm_ not the one suspicious here. If anyone's sus around here, it's _you two_. Why weren't you with your partners, huh? Did you ditch them to kill Bumblebee?"

"Hey, Mirage disappeared on _me_. Not the other way around," Steve retorted, "Speaking of which, where _were_ you, Mirage? 'Cause what you did was kinda sus, not gonna lie."

"You were slowing me down," Mirage said simply, "What I did was necessary to maximize the number of tasks done over the same period of time."

"That's sus. That's _so sus_ ," Steve said indignantly, "That's it, I'm voting for you this round."

"Do what you must," Mirage was unmoved, "I speak the truth."

"Guys, the time," Riley cut in, they had twenty seconds left.

"Those who vote for getting rid of Mirage, put your hands up," Steve said, quickly raising his own.

Riley looked up at Optimus, "I don't know, what should I do?"

"I believe it best to exercise prudence at this stage," he replied, glowing blue optics flitting from person to person, "it would be detrimental to our objective if we were to cast out our allies."

Riley agreed wholeheartedly.

When the vote ended, no one was outed. Sideswipe and Mirage gave up their votes while Camila and Lennox voted each other. After a moment of indecisiveness, Camila walked up to Lennox and asked to be part of his group.

"If I get killed, then you'll know it was him," she told Riley, who nodded in understanding.

Riley took a deep breath as the grim reality of the situation hit her. There were only five crewmates left. The imposters only had to kill three more people, and they would lose.

And then they were off to the next task.

* * *

_Crewmate_

_( ) Firing range: Hit targets_

_( ) Storage: Clean weapons_

_(✔) Medbay: Medical check-up_

_( ) Cafeteria: Wipe tables_

_( ) Training Hangar 2: Perform calculations_

_( ) Living quarters: Set alarm_

"We could do the last one, I guess," Riley said, frowning at her datapad, "it seems to be the easiest, so it'll be done pretty quickly."

"Let us be on our way then," Optimus said, taking care to adjust the size of his strides so that Riley could keep up.

They arrived at the entrance to the soldiers' living quarters sometime after, and Riley turned to glance at Optimus sheepishly.

"You don't fit in here, so you may have to wait outside…"

"I understand," Optimus replied, kneeling down to face her, "I shall stand guard here."

"Don't die," Riley told him seriously, embracing the servo he offered her tightly, "I don't wanna come out here and see you lying on the ground."

"I will not die," Optimus promised, running his thumb-digit along her side before rising back to full height.

With one last backward glance, Riley pushed open the door and slipped inside.

Her bunk was easy enough to find, being the furthest bed from the entrance. Unfortunately, that also meant she spent a lot of time traversing across the building to reach it. She ran as fast as could, ducking under the occasional Mosquito Baby Maker to avoid hitting her head. Once she had set the alarm by her bedside to six o'clock (it had been set to three in the afternoon beforehand, probably as a practical joke), she brought up the list again.

"Okay, Wheeljack, I've completed the task in Living quarters," she called out, watching as the task got crossed off from the list.

Two down, four to go.

Optimus was at the same place where she'd left him, studying both sides of the hallway intently for anyone passing by.

"Hey there," she said cheerily, and Optimus's optics snapped right to her, his expression softening, "Up next is target practice. I finally get to shoot something."

"You bear an unnerving similarity with Ironhide in that aspect," Optimus observed, a faint smile tugging his dermas.

"I'll take that as a compliment,"

Together, they approached the Firing Range, with Optimus leading the way. When he got to the entrance his steps faltered, then stopped.

"It would seem that shooting at targets may have to wait," he told her, standing aside so that she could see what had caught his attention.

Right at the middle of the open ground, lying on his side with his optics offline, was Mirage.

* * *

Mirage was dead.

Only four crew members were left.

"Everyone. State where they were. Now," Lennox demanded. He had rushed in with Sideswipe several seconds after the news about Mirage's death had been released.

"We were in the Firing Range. We were the ones who found the body," Riley reported.

"Were you the ones who _found_ it, or were you the ones who _made_ it?" Steve challenged, "This is the second body you've discovered, Riley. I have to say, you're looking really sus right now."

"Excuse me?" Riley was outraged, "I've been with Optimus this whole time. Where have _you_ been? Your partner was _killed_ , need I remind you?"

"It's not _my_ fault Mirage pulled another disappearing trick on me, you know,"

"Stop, you two, this isn't helping anyone," Lennox commanded, "What we really need to know is the list of people who had been to the Firing Range within this hour."

Apart from herself and Optimus, Riley honestly couldn't remember seeing anyone near the Firing R- _oh gosh Sideswipe had said he had tasks at the Firing Range_.

Votes were cast. Riley had silently crossed her fingers and voted for Sideswipe. Both Camila and Sideswipe voted for Steve, while Steve voted for her. Lennox and Optimus had, strangely, given up their votes. Since the number of votes voting for Steve was the same as the number of votes given up, no one was outed this round either.

"What now?" Riley asked Optimus, "Two more kills and the imposters win."

"Indeed," he replied gravely, "We must precede with extreme caution."

* * *

It happened so sudden that it caught them both off guard.

They were at the hangar door of Training Hangar Two, about to enter to do a task, when Lennox appeared in the hallway, accompanied by Camila. Riley had raised her hand, ready to greet them, when Lennox pulled out a holo-knife and ran it across Camila's throat. She made a quiet noise of surprise before her eyes widened in understanding. Sending Lennox a nasty glare, she lay down onto the ground, limp and unmoving.

Giving them a sinister grin, Lennox stepped in front of the body, blocking it from their path (they had to come within close range to a body before they could call a group meeting).

Riley panicked. One more kill, and the imposters win.

Optimus reacted first. Spinning around, he strode into the training hangar.

"In here, Riley, quickly," he said urgently. Riley's hopes soared. Each hangar had two entrances. They could escape from the other side of the hangar, dash over to the Autobot Hangar, and press the button for an emergency meeting. Then, they could kick Lennox out and they would be safe.

The big question now was whether they would make it to the Autobot Hangar alive.

Riley sprinted across the training hangar, heart _thud thud thudding_ inside her chest. _Come on Riley, faster, faster, you can do it, go, go, go!_

The hangar's exit was right in front of her now, and she could hear Optimus coming up from behind. It was so close, they were so close to freedom-

The door slammed shut centimetres in front of her.

No. No no no no no. _She forgot that imposters could sabotage doors! How could she have forgotten such an important fact?_ Riley whirled around, meeting Optimus's equally horrified gaze. The hangar's second door slid over the remaining entrance across the room.

"Wait, he locked us both in?" Riley looked up at Optimus, her face marred with confusion.

"Indeed," Optimus replied, taking a step towards her.

A prickle of unease sprung up at the back of her mind. Something was wrong here, she could tell.

Why would Lennox, who had already trapped the both of them, lock her in the hangar with Optimus?

Something dawned upon her, clarity suddenly finding its way into her mind, and she took a step back from Optimus.

Optimus, who was the only remaining Autobot with _red armour_ , who had voted to kick out Arcee, who had, throughout the whole time they were paired up, not _once_ mentioned his own tasks.

Optimus, who would have no doubt had enough time to head to the Training Range, kill Mirage, and arrive back at the entrance to the Living Quarters with her being none the wiser…

" _You_ ," she breathed out, staring at him with horrified amazement, " _you_ are other imposter."

Optimus's optics lit up proudly, "You have once again exceeded my expectations, my little soldier."

Riley's survival instincts were screaming at her to _run! Run! Run!_ as Optimus took another step closer, but her legs felt frozen, her joints stiff with shock and disbelief.

"You understand I must take your life in order for the game to end," Optimus told her, his tone almost apologetic, "I would appreciate it if you did not attempt to resist."

The sight of Optimus taking out his holo-knife (it was _HUGE_ ) finally unfroze Riley's limbs, and she took off, sprinting away as fast as she could. It was when she reached a wall that the reality of her situation finally set itself into her brain. She was trapped in a closed-off room with an imposter. There was no escape.

She flinched when Optimus backed her up against a corner, fear and exhaustion seeping through her bones. He knelt down, blocking off the hangar lights with his gigantic frame. They both knew she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Optimus," Riley tried as a last resort, "I thought you loved me."

Gentle digits wiped away her sweat and the firm press of a pair of dermas warmed her forehead.

"I do," Optimus murmured against her skin, the air he expelled from his vents tickling her hair.

She breathed a sigh of relief, smiling gratefully at Optimus as he pulled away, "Oh thank goodness-"

Her sentence was cut off when Optimus whipped out his holo-knife and drove it into her stomach. The knife was so large that it literally sliced her in two, the light of the hologram emerging from both sides of her waist. Her datapad buzzed, signalling her defeat.

"The imposters win!" Wheeljack announced brightly from the loudspeakers.

"You… you jerk!" Riley slapped at Optimus's servo angrily as the image of the holo-knife flickered and disappeared.

"I take it you enjoyed the game?" Optimus rumbled, amused.

"I did, yes," Riley admitted. It was true. She hadn't had this much fun in ages.

"But next time we play I'm voting you out every single meeting,"

"I look forward to it,"

**Author's Note:**

> :D


End file.
